Newspaper vending machines are an increasingly popular way of distributing newspapers throughout the country. Frequently, newspaper vending machines act on a honor system. That is, a consumer will insert the required amount of coinage into the coin mechanism of the newspaper vending machine which will then allow the consumer access to the newspaper containing cabinet of the vending machine through a manually-operated door. The door, being unlocked upon the insertion of the required amount of coinage, usually allows the consumer access to all of the newspapers. The dishonest consumer will take more than one edition of the newspaper. This is especially true when newspapers, especially those in highly competitive metropolitan markets, offer "game cards" with each edition. The dishonest consumer will take all of the editions, or in many cases, more than one edition in order to gain access to the game cards and increase his chances of winning a prize.
Thus, what is needed in the industry is a simple device to deter the theft of more than one newspaper that is capable of being retrofitted into the cabinets of existing newspaper vending machines.
Applicant's device solves such a need by providing a device to retrofit into the cabinets of newspaper vending machine racks to prevent the removal of more than one copy of the newspaper for each vend or door opening of the cabinet. The single vend device consists of a front panel with a T- or Y-shaped slot. The arms of the slot are normally closed off with a pivoted closure plate. Consumer access to the newspapers is provided through the leg of the slot, but the newspaper must be slid horizontally through the gap between the closure plate and the front panel. The thickness of the gap is adjustable to selectively allow for the variation in thickness between various editions of the newspaper. The closure plate is spring loaded to be biased to the closed position. Following removal of the paper and the closure of the plate and a locking pin prevents the plate from pivoting. The locking pin is disarmed upon closure of the cabinet door.
Thus it is the purpose of this invention to provide for a single vend device for easily (without tools) retrofitting newspaper vending machines that will help deter the theft of more than one issue of the newspaper by providing an adjustable width closure plate and an access slot, with resetable means for locking the normally biased closure plate in a locked position following the removal of single edition through the access slot.